Since the inception of a public internet, users of the internet have always required a means of searching the web for the information they want. Search engines have been created to facilitate this task by providing a central location for users to access links to a variety of other websites. As the internet expands in size daily, the organization of information and websites is crucial to achieving optimal information access. As more websites are created, more websites are apt to match the search criteria provided by a user; however, these matches may not be the most optimal or ideal for the intent of the user. Therefore, the user is frequently required to narrow his or her search with additional adjectives and qualifiers.
Currently, when a search is requested by a user to the World Wide Web, conventionally referred to as the internet, the success of the search is determined by the keywords/terms the user elects to type into a search field, together with the logic of the search algorithm employed by the search engine corporation, such as Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc. Regarding the latter, Google, for example, uses a page-ranking algorithm by which the search finds sites and hyperlinked sites related to the search term and places them in a rank order based on the degree to which they are accessed by others (as an indicator of importance).
However, a search may have to be done a number of times to produce results that are close to the user's goals, known as the ideal search result. Occasionally, a user fails to retrieve the ideal search result because it is too difficult to find with proper keyword tagging, or the user simply gives up in frustration after a period of time. Frequently, numerous adjectives or modifiers are required within the search field, in order to custom tailor the search for the specific desirable results. If there were a way that these modifiers or filters could be applied to a search in a coherent and easy manner, then the user could save time on future searches that would contain similar modifiers or filters on the search criteria (keywords). If there were a way to easily incorporate this concept into a browser toolbar, internet searches could be customized easily via a graphical interface. The filter criterion could be personified into a graphical representation of the characteristics of the search, embodied as an avatar with a specific search “persona”.
Thus, there is a need for a method of searching the internet for information in a specific manner that may be shaped in accordance with the specific filters desired by an individual in a specific situation. A means by which users may rapidly select custom search filters based on avatars that appear to embody the very search filters they enact would greatly facilitate and expedite the repetitive search process.
U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0169801 for “Multiple Avatar Personalities” by Blattner et al., published on Jul. 1, 2010, shows enablement of multiple online personas in which “[a]t least two identities within a communications environment to whom messages may be directed are identified. A first persona of a user is enabled to be projected to a first of the identities while a second persona of the same user is enabled to be concurrently projected to a second of the identities. The first and second personas each include an avatar capable of being animated, and the first persona and the second persona differ.” Blattner et al.'s invention is specifically identified as placed “in an instant messaging communications session”. This patent is almost identical to U.S. Pat. No. 7,636,755 for “Multiple Avatar Personalities” by Blattner et al.
U.S. Pub. No. 2009/0307620 for “System for Concurrently Managing Multiple Avatars” by Hamilton, II et al., published on Dec. 10, 2009, shows an approach for allowing a user to create multiple instantiations, or clones, of an avatar in a virtual universe. Although Hamilton, II et al. create a clone of the avatar, the cloned avatar can have differing characteristics. In section [0040], we see that “a clone may be formed with a restricted subset of the characteristics of the master”; in section [0041], we read that “a plurality of avatars may be simultaneously and collectively controlled by a user. This collective control may include features such as enabling a specific movement, enabling text messaging, enabling speech, or enabling any other action in multiple avatars.” Although this differs from the rest of the present invention, Hamilton, II et al. does allow a user to assign different characteristics to more than one avatar.
U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0158232 for “Animation Control Method for Multiple Participants” by Shuster, published on Jul. 3, 2008, shows a virtual reality universe process in which multiple avatars are independently controlled in response to client input. Unlike the present invention, Shuster makes no specific mention of a user employing multiple avatars tailored to different personas.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,913,176 for “Applying Access Controls to Communications with Avatars” by Blattner et al., issued on Mar. 22, 2011, shows a method of applying access control information to an instant message by determining the access control information of the sender's avatar and the receiver's avatar. Unlike the present invention, Blattner et al. is a means of controlling a user's access within an instant messaging system.
Thus, none of the current patents reviewed above overtly connect the use of avatars to internet searching.